Frontlines is a video series that brings you close to the work of Prison Fellowship through the lens of Prison Fellowship Ministries CEO Jim Liske’s encounters with the inmates and families. In this inaugural video, Jim reflects on meeting with Jonathan, a 15-year-old boy longing for a different future.
At the beginning of January I saw a powerful model of partnership and unity in the church in action. I went to an appreciation event for Angel Tree church volunteers in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hoffmantown Church, a suburban congregation, had taken on more than 150 children in 2012, but what really stood out to me about them was they weren’t content with just delivering gifts to inmates’ children in their own backyard.
Thank you for reaching out to hundreds of thousands of prisoners’ children in need of Jesus this Christmas. You not only brightened their holiday—you lit a spark of hope in their lonely hearts!
You can’t get forgiveness from God… without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.1
“Can he ever be forgiven? Can he find redemption?” – asked the interviewer.
“Those are the questions,” replied a psychologist, and then mused aloud, “but who really deserves forgiveness?”
Angela Patton is the director of Camp Diva, an organization that helps empower young women. In a TED Talk, she explains how her organization arranged a father-daughter dance for 16 men and their 18 daughters – inside the county jail! The dance gave the men a rare opportunity to show their daughters how much they cared by dancing with them, pulling out their chairs for a meal, and giving them their undivided attention.
Recently I received a letter from two women in their early 20s. They were inmates at Rikers Island in New York, and they had written on the front and back of the same sheet, because together, they were able to come up with just one envelope, one stamp, one pencil, and one piece of paper.
Many prisoners who have found new life through Christ express their deepest convictions through a paint brush. Yet their work largely goes unseen by the outside world – until the cellblock sketches fell into the hands of the prison ministry team at Shadow Mountain Community Church in California.
Whether it’s the debt ceiling, gun control, or other hot topics in politics, it seems like Congress is paralyzed by partisan gridlock. However, Justice Fellowship – the advocacy arm of Prison Fellowship Ministries – is excited to be part of fostering growing bipartisan agreement on criminal justice reform, an issue that has bitterly divided liberals and conservatives for years.
Each year, Prison Fellowship recognizes volunteers and employees who have made a difference in the lives of prisoners and their families by presenting them with the Shining Star Award. In the coming weeks, the blog will highlight some of the 2012 Shining Star recipients and their work.
The following post originally appeared on the BreakPoint Blog, and is reproduced here with permission.
There is something about lying that hits a real nerve. People who read the Bible are quick to point out that telling lies is the first trace of evil in the Scriptures.
A January 2013 article by Jessi Strong, written for Bible Study Magazine, examines the unique perspective that incarcerated men and women bring to the study of God’s Word.
Prison Fellowship Ministries CEO Jim Liske told the magazine, “You don’t have to spend time talking to an inmate about how their life is not working out.
“We have seamstresses sitting with nothing to do,” a Florida Department of Corrections official told Raeanne Hance, the regional executive director for Prison Fellowship® in the Southeast.
To save money as 2012 wound to a close, the FDOC had prepared to close seven prisons and four work camps.
Injustice is everywhere; justice seems far away. Truth is chased out of court; honesty is shoved aside. Everyone tells lies; those who turn from crime end up ruined.1
We found ourselves in a delicate situation in which the question hung poignantly and pointedly between us.
Is it lawful or humane for the state to dole out additional punishment to prisoners for a medical condition?
The New York Times published an article about an inmate, Albert Knox, who tested positive for HIV his first week in prison.
What was the most memorable part of the recent Christmas season? Was it receiving the perfect gift? Seeing friends and family? Perhaps it was a grand Christmas dinner, or seeing the look on the faces of children or grandchildren as they enjoyed all of the joy and laughter that comes with the holidays?